Everlasting
by SincerelyTruly
Summary: "I have met, fallen in love, saved, lost, and searched for you through eternity, repeatedly, each time praying to get it all right. I have forgotten and remembered you, how many times we might never know. None of that matters though, because finally, after an agonizingly infinite amount of times, I will love you and keep you by my side."-Natsu; NALU! One-shot! Enjoy! :))


**A/N: Hello, lovelies! This is a one-shot that hi-jacked my brain and wouldn't leave it be, until I wrote it. I believe I didn't do it justice, but I tried my best. :)  
**

**Story Comments:  Heavily influenced and inspired by a combination of things. One, the manga and where it may/may-not be going. Two, the song "A Thousand Years" By: Christina Perri, which has been used in some awesom AMV's on YouTube! Three, one of my favorite books, Tuck Everlasting, simply because it deals with the notion of living forever and love and all that good stuff. I really had a wonderful idea planned out in my head, and tried my hardest to get it out for people to understand and enjoy. Hopefully, i didn't do as bad as I thought!**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Fairy Tail!**

**Anywho...**

_**Everlasting**_

"You can't have living without dying. So you can't call it living, what we got. We just are, we just be, like rocks beside the road."  
― Natalie Babbitt, _Tuck Everlasting_

**XXX**

The bright light within the gates stung his eyes.

The knowledge hit him like a freight train, and then the déjà vu hit him even worse. Lastly, the newly completed timeline in his mind's eye almost gave him a stroke. Natsu Dragneel knew now, and he also knew that he had known several times before, and had gone through the terrors of knowing innumerable cycles before that even.

Natsu Dragneel also knew this wasn't his last cycle yet either. He'd be here again.

Yes, he would continue reliving until he got it right. When he closed his eyes it would happen again…

**XXX**

_First comes, Hargeon. Or at least he felt the most during Hargeon as opposed to his childhood before it, giving it the title of first. He meets Lucy Heartfilia on that fateful day, in Hargeon._

_Second comes, Jude Heartfilia. The crap Jude always brings onto Lucy and Fairy Tail occurs._

_Third comes, Edolas. This is when he first realizes that she can't die or he'll go insane._

_Fourth comes, Tenrou Island. When he really almost loses her and notes that he loves her more than anyone else, period._

_Fifth comes, Acnologia. He thinks at that moment, that he can never let her lose faith or cry anymore._

_Sixth comes, Jude Heartfilia's death. He'd never let her feel alone and one day her tears would end, he swears it._

_Seventh comes, the Grand Magic Games. He knows he loves her finally, and wants a future with her._

_Eighth comes, Future Lucy returning to the past. His own personal, living hell begins._

_Ninth comes, He goes to the past to save the future. He fails. He dies._

_Tenth comes, he arrives in the gates of time. He remembers everything from every past life, than he knows he'll repeat, when he closes his eyes and opens them; he'll start as new and uninformed._

_And so then…_

_**First comes, Hargeon. Or at least he felt the most during Hargeon as opposed to his childhood before it, giving it the title of first. He meets Lucy Heartfilia on that fateful day…**_

**XXX**

Finally.

It was all over, the world of Earthland was at last, at peace. The terrors of Zeref and Acnologia were put to an end, by the mighty dragon-slayer, in time. However, no one knew the truth of what had occurred, none other than Natsu Dragneel and Lucy Heartfilia, that is.

The truth was that Natsu Dragneel had been launched into the stream of time, forever. He knew not what or when his origin was anymore, and he couldn't help but fear that if he died now, he'd be reborn again back into the hellish cycle. However, after his recent travels through times' gates, Natsu was granted all his memories from his journey, permanently. After endless years, and endless hours, the man had finally gotten the key to saving the future, right. Natsu would never be reborn and recycled again, hopefully for that. For he'd won, and put an end to the evil, he'd earned that much.

Immediately after the shock of learning his true knowledge, the dragon-slayer shared it with the only person he would ever entrust it with. Lucy Heartfilia. Of course she believed his story.

Natsu wasn't sure how he had kept his known, present time, but felt blessed. He wasn't sure how any of it had worked. Surely, the timeline should have shifted due to the loss of great evil; however, Fairy Tail had remained unaffected. Somehow, the butterfly effect had been dodged, or perhaps Lord Time was giving the man a break for once.

Either way Lucy Heartfilia was the one, Natsu knew, that he had lived for despite all the loneliness. For it was she who had given him the ability of saving the future to begin with, Natsu knew he was not technically the first Natsu Dragneel, but a version saved from harm, by a tortured original version of Lucy. Though there were many variations of themselves throughout the centuries and cycles, the one-armed Lucy, had been the true savior of the world, and only he would ever know it.

And as Natsu Dragneel finally had his Lucy Heartfilia in his arms; the dirt, fire, rubble, and disaster around them faded out.

Because none of it mattered anymore, it was all over.

They cried intertwined, for they had earned the right to do so.

They cried for the people in their hearts, that they'd literally watched come and go repeatedly, infinitely.

They cried for lost and gained time.

They cried for love, of a bond that lasted and will continue to last eternity.

And when every last tear dropped, they stood and faced a new day, as they had always done.

**XXX**

As weeks pass, and Natsu realizes, he truly will never be sent back into the void of endless time again, he decides he will do what he has never had the opportunity to do before.

Lucy turns magenta as he holds her left hand and gets down on one knee, one day in the newly built guild. He sweats as he begins his speech and shakily pulls out a simple gold ring from his pocket.

"Lucy Heartfilia, we have loved each other through lifetimes and lifetimes before. I have loved you for all of time, and more. Time has allowed us to meet numerously, and only now am I able to keep you. I'm not sure how long ago our real original meeting was, but it doesn't matter anymore. I love you, I have always loved you, I will always love you, and I'll continue to love you forevermore. I went into the past at the genesis, with the intent of saving the world, and I came through the never ending cycle of it realizing you _were _my world," At this point Lucy and the entire guild were crying, "I have met, fallen in love, saved, lost, and searched for you through eternity, repeatedly, each time praying to get it all right. I have forgotten and remembered you, how many times we might never know. None of that matters though, because finally, after an agonizingly infinite amount of times, I will love you and keep you by my side," Natsu grabbed up Lucy's hands kissing them, "Finally, I got it right and have been granted our future together. No longer will I be an unmoving figure in the flow of time. I will not have to watch our start and end, ever again. You're finally mine, as I have been yours for all of time, since the beginning of time. Please, Lucy Heartfilia, be my wife until the true end." Natsu begged.

"Yes of course I will, you idiot, yes!" Lucy wails, and then throws her arms around her dragon-slayer the moment he puts the ring on her finger. They kiss long and hard. The guild is deafening that day, and never in all his time has, Natsu, witnessed such a Fairy Tail party, and never in all his times has he ever been this happy.

**XXX**

_First comes, marriage. It was a beautiful wedding, and blessedly once in a lifetime. And Fairy Tail style all the way._

_Second comes, children. They were beautiful, but definitely brats like they're parents._

_Third comes, grandchildren. Neither Natsu nor Lucy knows how it happened, but somehow they're old and joyously, running out of time._

_Fourth comes, death. It's an awful, big, and scary adventure, but they find they've been through worse together. _

_Fifth comes, peace. What they went through before was nothing. This is the real forever; this is where their true story begins. Each chapter in their story is better than the one before it and their only desire now, is to see the ones they left behind on that peace forsaken planet, come home. _

_Sixth comes, and stays. They're blessed, because now their love is truly everlasting._

**XXX**

"But dying's part of the wheel, right there next to being born. You can't pick out the pieces you like and leave the rest. Being part of the whole thing, that's the blessing."  
― Natalie Babbitt, _Tuck Everlasting_

**A/N: I feel like it isn't good enough, but I'm not going to fret about it! Maybe someone will read this and make the story really work? I don't know. I'd really appreciate hearing your opinions on this one guys! I stayed up late last night writing it! (Not like that's a shocker though, right?) Anyways, REVIEW please? Or any feedback for that matter! :) **


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